One of the oldest events on the South African racing calendar, the R400 000 Gr2 Post Merchants run over 1 200m at Greyville in June, has drawn an entry of 38 sprinters, including two of the leading contenders in Saturday’s R1-million, Gr1 Tsogo Sun Sprint at Scottsville, Bold Respect and Sunset Eyes.
Varikate wins the 2014 Gr2 Post Merchants in style
The race dates back many decades to when the merchants – the store keepers in Durban – put up the stake for which the horses competed and is said to date back to the 1800s with some of the country’s greatest sprinters lifting the winner’s laurels.
In all, 10 runners in the Tsogo Sun Sprint and two fillies set to compete in the R750 000 Gr1 South African Fillies Sprint, Myfunnyvalentine and Green Pepper, are among the entries.
Supplementary entries for the Post Merchants will be accepted up to 11am on Friday, June 1 with final acceptance on June 4.
R400 000 1200m POST MERCHANTS (Grade 2)
| 24 | Sergeant Hardy | (4G) | 62 | 123 | A | Justin Snaith | |
| 25 | Bishop’s Bounty | (4G) | 62 | 117 | A | Justin Snaith | |
| 6 | Champagne Haze | (5G) | 62 | 115 | AT | Gary Alexander | |
| 18 | Trip To Heaven | (6G) | 60 | 114 | AT | Sean Tarry | |
| 34 | Will Pays | (6G) | 60 | 114 | A | M G Azzie/A A Azzie | |
| 23 | Bold Respect | (3G) | 58 | 111 | A | Brett Crawford | |
| 2 | Naafer (AUS) | (3C) | 58 | 110 | A | Mike de Kock | |
| 31 | Always In Charge | (4C) | 58 | 109 | A | Vaughan Marshall | |
| 3 | Our Mate Art (AUS) | (4G) | 58 | 109 | A | Candice Bass-Robinson | |
| 15 | Speedpoint | (3C) | 58 | 109 | A | Joey Ramsden | |
| 19 | Captain’s Causeway | (5G) | 58 | 108 | A | Sean Tarry | |
| 36 | Amazing Strike | (6G) | 58 | 107 | BA | Alec Laird | |
| 27 | Romi’s Boy | (4G) | 58 | 106 | AT | Alec Laird | |
| 20 | Sniper Shot | (3G) | 56 | 105 | A | Paul Lafferty | |
| 9 | Pure Blonde | (5G) | 56 | 104 | A | Alec Laird | |
| 4 | Black Cat Back | (4G) | 56 | 103 | A | Brett Crawford | |
| 26 | Doosra | (4G) | 56 | 102 | BA | J A Janse van Vuuren | |
| 16 | Lord Balmoral (AUS) | (4G) | 56 | 102 | A | Vaughan Marshall | |
| 33 | My Pal Al | (4G) | 56 | 102 | BA | Alistair Gordon | |
| 1 | Sunset Eyes | (4G) | 56 | 102 | AT | Brett Crawford | |
| 13 | Green Pepper | (4F) | 55.5 | 107 | A | J A Janse van Vuuren | |
| 38 | Mujallad (AUS) | (3C) | 54 | 101 | BAT | Mike de Kock | |
| 5 | Wonderwall | (3C) | 54 | 101 | AT | Sean Tarry | |
| 17 | Down To Zero | (3C) | 54 | 98 | BA | M G Azzie/A A Azzie | |
| 10 | Zouaves | (4G) | 54 | 98 | A | Geoff Woodruff | |
| 11 | Wynkelder | (4G) | 54 | 96 | BA | Tony Rivalland | |
| 22 | Rock Of Africa | (4G) | 54 | 95 | BA | Vaughan Marshall | |
| 32 | Tribal Fusion | (5G) | 54 | 95 | BA | Shane Humby | |
| 37 | Too Phat To Fly | (3F) | 53.5 | 105 | A | Glen Kotzen | |
| 21 | Punta Cana | (3G) | 52 | 94 | BA | Mike de Kock | |
| 35 | Splendid Garden | (6G) | 52 | 93 | AT | M G Azzie/A A Azzie | |
| 8 | Alwahsh (NZ) | (3G) | 52 | 92 | A | Mike de Kock | |
| 7 | Mombela | (6G) | 52 | 92 | AT | Sean Tarry | |
| 14 | Torre Del Oro | (4G) | 52 | 90 | A | Sean Tarry | |
| 12 | Myfunnyvalentine | (4F) | 51.5 | 97 | A | Sean Tarry | |
| 29 | Final Judgement | (4F) | 51.5 | 96 | A | Glen Kotzen | |
| 28 | Neala | (5M) | 51.5 | 96 | A | Shane Humby | |
| 30 | Hoist The Mast | (5M) | 50 | 90 | AT | Andre Nel | |
| (38) | |||||||
